The Government wants to have ready by June 2026 a single national ticket valid on all public transport in the country, accessible through the Citizen Card, announced the Deputy Minister and State Reform, Gonçalo Matias, in the sectoral debate in the Assembly of the Republic, on February 27th.
According to the ECO portal, the promise comes within the scope of the strategy of administrative simplification and digitalization of public services, with the aim of facilitating mobility and reducing the need for multiple cards and validation systems that currently vary between regions and operators.
According to the minister, the intention is for the transport ticket to work transversally, covering urban, interurban and metropolitan networks, allowing passengers to travel with a single “ticket” throughout the country.
What’s on the table for the single ticket
In Parliament, Gonçalo Matias stated that “by June” the single national ticket will be ready and that access will be via the Citizen Card, framing the measure within a logic of integration of services and dematerialization.
Despite the announcement of the calendar, aspects such as tariffs, operator membership models, implementation phases by region or whether there will be transition periods for existing local systems have not been detailed.
The idea of nationwide interoperable ticketing is not new: the 1Bilhete.pt project was formalized in 2023 with the aim of creating a national intermodal ticketing platform and promoting interoperability between systems.
digital DUA “in the coming weeks”
In the same debate, the minister also announced the advancement of the Single Automobile Document (DUA) in digital format, stating that the launch should take place “in the coming weeks” and that the delay was linked to financing, which has since been resolved.
The measure aims to allow owners to have access to vehicle data in digital format, reducing dependence on physical support and aligning with the document dematerialization policy.
The Government also points out a practical objective associated with the digital DUA: to avoid situations in which motorists are fined for discrepancies between addresses registered on the document and on the Citizen Card, a topic mentioned in the context of administrative modernization.
What changes for passengers and drivers
If the calendar is adhered to, the single national ticket could simplify the experience of those traveling between municipalities and regions, especially when today it is necessary to switch between cards, passes and applications according to the operator and geographic area.
Even so, and according to , implementation will depend on technical and operational decisions: interoperability between systems, integration with existing supports and coordination between entities with ticketing skills, themes that 1Bilhete.pt itself has been framing as central to the universality of the model.
For now, the essentials are defined in two political goals: a deadline (June) for the single national ticket and a short-term calendar (“next few weeks”) for the digital DUA, both presented as parts of the same State reform and digitalization agenda.
Also read:
